Brussels, 08/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - The bureau of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM) will meet in Rabat on Monday 11 June in preparation for the annual general meeting in Antakya (Turkey) at the start of next year and, above all, to make 2012 the year of consolidation of its task at the end of a first term which is due to expire in August of this year. ARLEM was set up in 2010. The change of direction of the Secretariat General of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) towards more tangible projects backs up locally elected representatives in their increased engagement in cooperation between the northern, southern and eastern Mediterranean regions.
The meeting in Rabat on Monday will provide the opportunity to look at current initiatives within the two committees set up within this joint institution, which is jointly chaired by the EU Committee of the Regions. The SUDEV committee will devote a large part of its discussions to sustainable tourism around the report drafted by President of the Assembly of European Regions (AER) Michèle Saban (France). The ECOTER committee, meanwhile, will discuss technical education and vocational training in the Mediterranean region ahead of adoption of the report from Egyptian local representative Nihal El Megharbel.
For the ARLEM leaders, the events of the Arab Spring have made it all the more clear that the work of the institution has to be stepped up and its role within the UfM has to be clearly defined. ARLEM has been admitted as an observer to EuroMed institutional meetings. (FB/transl.rt)